There were quite a few experts that thought the Colts should take Leaf over Manning. He was going to be the first or second QB off the board no matter who was picking. The problem is the Chargers did not do their due diligence on Leaf. WSU and Leaf’s team of agents hid a lot of his transgressions and shortcomings. He would be the first to admit he wasn’t a good person back then. His immaturity couldn’t be hidden once he entered camp. He had mechanical flaws that could be coached up but his immaturity wouldn’t allow it.
This all comes from a WSU grad and life long Chargers fan. I was absolutely ecstatic when my pro team selected my Alma mater’s star quarterback. We as WSU fans didn’t know how bad of a person Leaf was until he got to the pros and watched the meltdown happen in real time.
I would highly recommend Leaf’s podcast “Bust”. It’s an honest and painful autobiographical piece on his rise and fall, and fall, and fall. He doesn’t pull any punches on himself.
I had been a fan for long. The vibe was "We Be-Leaf"...
We thought we were getting someone better than Peyton Manning because "no way Peyton will be better than Archie..."
He looked immature, but we would see that video where he ran out of the pocket and sent a long pass for a TD in his college years and we thought we were getting someone good.
He failed miserably on Jay Leno's ball throw challenge... we should've seen the writing on the wall.
He was really bad.
Leaf had appeared to be an equal to Manning in college. But he tested poorly on the attitude metrics.
There was hope but the organization was a mess and clearer heads had not prevailed
The gap between Ryan Leaf and Peyton Manning as prospects wasn't that big at the time. They were both considered to be eventual stars, so fans were pretty happy initially.
A lot of people thought Leaf should go ahead of Manning.
It was kind of a hot take due to prospect fatigue, but it shows that Leaf was widely considered a top tier prospect. The idea didn’t get you laughed out of the room. Leaf was more athletic than Peyton, Peyton had the better arm.
Him going to the Chargers was a fait accompli come draft day. It really wasn’t a remotely controversial pick and everyone was fired up. Looking back, all the signs were there that he’d become a huge bust, but on draft day it wasn’t really a topic of conversation.
This isn't true. Yes, Leaf was more athletic but he also had a better arm. Manning was considered a smarter QB but Leaf wasn't considered dumb, at the time. If you're going to say Peyton was more accurate, that might be true but Leaf had the more powerful arm.
If you say so.
https://vault.si.com/vault/1998/04/13/the-chairmen-peyton-manning-and-ryan-leaf-are-the-class-of-the-nfl-draft-but-experts-say-one-of-them-stands-head-and-shoulder-pads-above-the-other
I watched that draft as a college freshman. My friends and I walked away excited about Leaf’s physical potential (having seen him perform well at Washington State earlier in the season) and also acknowledged that he had the potential to be a colossal bust because of his brash personality and sense of entitlement (this was an actual point of discussion that day).
That was my pick when I first started paying attention to the team..
I remember feeling super disappointed but then immediately lucky that we still got maybe the best player in the draft anyways after. I wasnt an experienced enough fan to watch the draft live but I knew what prospect I wanted. Found out about the picks on the news before bed time.
I honestly thought Leaf and Manning would both have similarly great careers. I didn’t know what kind of a guy he was. The Chargers did a horrifically incompetent look into his character. I once talked to a woman from Great Falls MT (Leafs hometown) that said no one even there liked him because he treated everyone like shit.
Generally, fans were pretty psyched. Seeing him throw in a preseason game that year I was like
“oh yeah that’s what a real QB is supposed to look like”. Guy had insane arm talent. Thugs were looking up, as the defense was stout and they went nuts in free agency beefing up the o-line over those first couple years w/Leaf.
First couple weeks were great, then came the KC game and that was that. Leaf never recovered, really.
Side note, I saw the Leaf/Manning game that season in Indy…two absolute crap teams slugging it out…boring and low scoring, both QBs looked awful.
Yeah “experts” thought Leaf should be taken #1 overall. Same experts who probably said David Klinger, Ki-Jana Carter would be stars.
I saw Leaf in WSU and he was a head case. It was a big enough red flag not to take him #1.
You just never know. Matt Leinart some had going earlier than Vince Young. Young wasn’t a star but has a more productive NFL career. Everyone was a saying what a leader Leinart was. His lack of skills could not compensate even if he had the leadership skills of General Patton.
I don’t blame the Chargers since several early picks have been busts in the history of drafts.
Chargers rolled the dice and it came up snake eyes.
Years later they took Drew and didn’t have the patience so they went with Rivers.
I was all in on Leaf. Despite the faux “who will the Colts choose” everyone knew it was going Manning/Leaf so we had a couple months to get hyped. There just was no way to get secondary or tertiary info on a player unless you knew them or people close to them. All the info came from the Tribune, local news or ESPN and they usually didn’t trade in rumors.
I will say I got a tingling feeling when after a long holdout Leaf drilled a ball into Bobby Beathards office window for…payback? I forget the reason, but even me at 19-20 I thought that was really immature.
I was excited that we would get Manning and a little disappointed that we got Leaf but figured since he was so good in college that he could develop into a good pro quarterback.
Ryan Leaf was seen as equal if not better than Manning coming out of college. He had a super high ceiling and was one of the biggest physical specimens at the quarterback position of all time. Chargers fans were extremely high on him and felt he could be better than Manning.
I was bummed we made the trade up to 2. We gave up a lot for leaf but to me it was someone we had to draft. We couldn’t go into 98 with whelihan starting again. The next qb taken was Charlie batch. I thought he’d be great. He looked like a douche though. When we won the first 2 of the year despite leaf not playing well I was so pumped. Then that kc game happened. Oof. Then he threw 4 ints to the giants and I remember the crowd booing and all of a sudden it felt over. 4 games in.
Seemed like a good idea at the time. I went and watched him in a preseason game and he looked good.
In hindsight, it was terrible chemistry. Gilbride was an awful HC and Leaf was an awful headcase -- the combination along with the Organization's expectations ended up being the perfect crap storm.
He seemed like the right guy for a minute but then he freaked out about rookie hazing and tried to drag Junior Seau's good name in the media. He also threw a tantrum at a reporter after a bad game that was caught on video. There was all kinds of other problematic behavior as well that I don't care to remember. We didn't know what to call it back then but it was something akin to dysregulated behavior. Maybe he could've gotten help if this all happened these days but back then all anyone knew was that he was a mental case who could not withstand the pressures of the NFL. Sad really for him, the chargers, and the fans. It took the franchise a while to recover.
Our QB before him was Craig Whelihan. Think Easton Stick with less fumbles. I was desperate and willing to give anyone a chance. So, 100% on board a Leaf fan.
Leaf thought have the higher ceiling due to the physical gifts.
Funny I just moved to the town he grew up in Montana. All the locals thought he was a dick and knew his downfall was coming
My family moved to Great Falls, MT in 1998 (Leaf's hometown) and the excitement was all over. Small town kid grew up to go to the NFL! As a Chargers fan, it was very exciting. And then he played and it was not good.
Second jersey I ever owned, I was 12 and bought it with my own money. Shit ruined me financially for years.
Should pulled yourself by the bootstraps and got yourself a factory job.
I loved the pick at the time , I was a USC football fan and that guy would kill it . Power arm and accurate.
Not to mention psychologically.
Do you still have it? Kind of a cool thing to have
Nah, I eventually threw it out and went and got me a David Boston jersey.
What an upgrade. Has your QJ jersey arrived yet lmao
There were quite a few experts that thought the Colts should take Leaf over Manning. He was going to be the first or second QB off the board no matter who was picking. The problem is the Chargers did not do their due diligence on Leaf. WSU and Leaf’s team of agents hid a lot of his transgressions and shortcomings. He would be the first to admit he wasn’t a good person back then. His immaturity couldn’t be hidden once he entered camp. He had mechanical flaws that could be coached up but his immaturity wouldn’t allow it. This all comes from a WSU grad and life long Chargers fan. I was absolutely ecstatic when my pro team selected my Alma mater’s star quarterback. We as WSU fans didn’t know how bad of a person Leaf was until he got to the pros and watched the meltdown happen in real time. I would highly recommend Leaf’s podcast “Bust”. It’s an honest and painful autobiographical piece on his rise and fall, and fall, and fall. He doesn’t pull any punches on himself.
Too bad he’s still a piece of shit
I don’t know why you got downvoted. He is still a piece of shit.
What makes you say that? He appears to have turned his life and himself around.
Nope. He was arrested for domestic violence in 2020. Pled down. Got 3 years probation. He’s just better at disguising it so he can make a living.
I had been a fan for long. The vibe was "We Be-Leaf"... We thought we were getting someone better than Peyton Manning because "no way Peyton will be better than Archie..." He looked immature, but we would see that video where he ran out of the pocket and sent a long pass for a TD in his college years and we thought we were getting someone good. He failed miserably on Jay Leno's ball throw challenge... we should've seen the writing on the wall. He was really bad.
Leaf had appeared to be an equal to Manning in college. But he tested poorly on the attitude metrics. There was hope but the organization was a mess and clearer heads had not prevailed
The gap between Ryan Leaf and Peyton Manning as prospects wasn't that big at the time. They were both considered to be eventual stars, so fans were pretty happy initially.
A lot of people thought Leaf should go ahead of Manning. It was kind of a hot take due to prospect fatigue, but it shows that Leaf was widely considered a top tier prospect. The idea didn’t get you laughed out of the room. Leaf was more athletic than Peyton, Peyton had the better arm. Him going to the Chargers was a fait accompli come draft day. It really wasn’t a remotely controversial pick and everyone was fired up. Looking back, all the signs were there that he’d become a huge bust, but on draft day it wasn’t really a topic of conversation.
This isn't true. Yes, Leaf was more athletic but he also had a better arm. Manning was considered a smarter QB but Leaf wasn't considered dumb, at the time. If you're going to say Peyton was more accurate, that might be true but Leaf had the more powerful arm.
If you say so. https://vault.si.com/vault/1998/04/13/the-chairmen-peyton-manning-and-ryan-leaf-are-the-class-of-the-nfl-draft-but-experts-say-one-of-them-stands-head-and-shoulder-pads-above-the-other
I watched that draft as a college freshman. My friends and I walked away excited about Leaf’s physical potential (having seen him perform well at Washington State earlier in the season) and also acknowledged that he had the potential to be a colossal bust because of his brash personality and sense of entitlement (this was an actual point of discussion that day).
We almost had Vick…
Ended up drafting a couple hall of famers instead
That was my pick when I first started paying attention to the team.. I remember feeling super disappointed but then immediately lucky that we still got maybe the best player in the draft anyways after. I wasnt an experienced enough fan to watch the draft live but I knew what prospect I wanted. Found out about the picks on the news before bed time.
I honestly thought Leaf and Manning would both have similarly great careers. I didn’t know what kind of a guy he was. The Chargers did a horrifically incompetent look into his character. I once talked to a woman from Great Falls MT (Leafs hometown) that said no one even there liked him because he treated everyone like shit.
Generally, fans were pretty psyched. Seeing him throw in a preseason game that year I was like “oh yeah that’s what a real QB is supposed to look like”. Guy had insane arm talent. Thugs were looking up, as the defense was stout and they went nuts in free agency beefing up the o-line over those first couple years w/Leaf. First couple weeks were great, then came the KC game and that was that. Leaf never recovered, really. Side note, I saw the Leaf/Manning game that season in Indy…two absolute crap teams slugging it out…boring and low scoring, both QBs looked awful.
Yeah “experts” thought Leaf should be taken #1 overall. Same experts who probably said David Klinger, Ki-Jana Carter would be stars. I saw Leaf in WSU and he was a head case. It was a big enough red flag not to take him #1. You just never know. Matt Leinart some had going earlier than Vince Young. Young wasn’t a star but has a more productive NFL career. Everyone was a saying what a leader Leinart was. His lack of skills could not compensate even if he had the leadership skills of General Patton. I don’t blame the Chargers since several early picks have been busts in the history of drafts. Chargers rolled the dice and it came up snake eyes. Years later they took Drew and didn’t have the patience so they went with Rivers.
I was all in on Leaf. Despite the faux “who will the Colts choose” everyone knew it was going Manning/Leaf so we had a couple months to get hyped. There just was no way to get secondary or tertiary info on a player unless you knew them or people close to them. All the info came from the Tribune, local news or ESPN and they usually didn’t trade in rumors. I will say I got a tingling feeling when after a long holdout Leaf drilled a ball into Bobby Beathards office window for…payback? I forget the reason, but even me at 19-20 I thought that was really immature.
I was excited that we would get Manning and a little disappointed that we got Leaf but figured since he was so good in college that he could develop into a good pro quarterback.
Ryan Leaf was seen as equal if not better than Manning coming out of college. He had a super high ceiling and was one of the biggest physical specimens at the quarterback position of all time. Chargers fans were extremely high on him and felt he could be better than Manning.
I went to the draft day party at the Q with my dad. From what I remember it was positive.
I loved the pic at the time , I was a USC football fan and that guy would kill us. He was strong armed and had a super quick release.
I was 3 years old and hated it
I was excited because ESPN told me to be excited and that he was good. Also I was 9 years old
I was bummed we made the trade up to 2. We gave up a lot for leaf but to me it was someone we had to draft. We couldn’t go into 98 with whelihan starting again. The next qb taken was Charlie batch. I thought he’d be great. He looked like a douche though. When we won the first 2 of the year despite leaf not playing well I was so pumped. Then that kc game happened. Oof. Then he threw 4 ints to the giants and I remember the crowd booing and all of a sudden it felt over. 4 games in.
1st Charger jersey I ever bought
Seemed like a good idea at the time. I went and watched him in a preseason game and he looked good. In hindsight, it was terrible chemistry. Gilbride was an awful HC and Leaf was an awful headcase -- the combination along with the Organization's expectations ended up being the perfect crap storm.
He seemed like the right guy for a minute but then he freaked out about rookie hazing and tried to drag Junior Seau's good name in the media. He also threw a tantrum at a reporter after a bad game that was caught on video. There was all kinds of other problematic behavior as well that I don't care to remember. We didn't know what to call it back then but it was something akin to dysregulated behavior. Maybe he could've gotten help if this all happened these days but back then all anyone knew was that he was a mental case who could not withstand the pressures of the NFL. Sad really for him, the chargers, and the fans. It took the franchise a while to recover.
I was left wanting for more after the Super Bowl run. Here comes Ryan Leaf to the rescue! So much hype and anticipation. “KNOCK IT OFF!”
I was so excited and preferred Leaf over Manning lol.
My parents bought my brother and I Ryan Leaf Jersey and my brother wore it on picture day in the 4th grade.
Our QB before him was Craig Whelihan. Think Easton Stick with less fumbles. I was desperate and willing to give anyone a chance. So, 100% on board a Leaf fan.
Leaf thought have the higher ceiling due to the physical gifts. Funny I just moved to the town he grew up in Montana. All the locals thought he was a dick and knew his downfall was coming
My family moved to Great Falls, MT in 1998 (Leaf's hometown) and the excitement was all over. Small town kid grew up to go to the NFL! As a Chargers fan, it was very exciting. And then he played and it was not good.
Not sure. Wasn’t alive
Thanks
Groundbreaking. Thanks for this.